Saxophone

I've made it official - Yes I'm learning to play the Saxophone, one of the things that I wanted to do before I reach fifty.

I started just before Christmas and hired a Sax from the Internet, just to see how things went before I committed myself to purchasing one outright.

After a lot of squeaking and unbearable noise, I'm now finally playing a couple of tunes reasonably well. - 'Oh When The Saints Come Marching In' and 'Annie's Song' written by John Denver and I've even attempted the famous Sax intro from 'Baker St'.

Keep watching this space - you never know you might even eventually see a clip of me playing on YouTube.

Now that would be interesting.

Bring Me Sunshine

Once again its a lovely sunny but cold Sunday afternoon and I've just returned home after having another brisk walk along the seafront promenade at Southwold in Suffolk.

When the sun shines brightly it just makes you look at the world in a different light and lifts your spirits and banishes the doom and gloom away.

I considered myself as a pretty optimistic type of person and I always try to see the good in every situation.

The only thing that really gets me down-hearted is those cold dark days. However I've recently discovered something to occupy my attention during the darkest of days.

I'll tell you more about my new past-time in my next blog.

FREEEEZING

For the past week the weather has been freezing. Most nights it has been at least -3 degrees if not colder. Knowing how much I dislike the cold I have tried to hibernate, but unfortunately most evenings I have had to venture out.

Today the weather has become slightly milder and the sun is shinning brightly, so I think this calls for a trip down to the seaside with my wife Ali and a brisk walk along the beach. I'll take some photo's to add to the blog later and while you're there check out my new hat, it's been really effective over the cold period, keeping my ears nice and warm.

Oh What A Night !

I have to admit that I'm feeling slightly under-par today. No sympathy required though as it was all self-inflicted. However I have to add - we had a cracking good time.

My family and I (excluding my son Jason - he was off gigging somewhere else) spent New Years Eve at Sprowston Manor, Norwich.

It was a black-tie event and included a fantastic meal and entertainment by a local band called 'Scratch-The-Cat' who were outstanding. This was to be our 4th New Year's Eve here and once again we were not to be disappointed.

After welcoming in the New Year in the traditional sense, by singing the customary Auld-Lang-Syne, the party carried on until 2am in the morning.

To keep us going until the end we were fed absolutely delectable bacon butties (in the past we had always had traditional Haggis Neaps & Tatties.) However the bacon rolls served their purpose and carried us through right to the end.

A great time was had by all. But we're suffering a little today. Never-mind it was definitely all worth it.

My daughter Rachel has some interesting photo's that she took. Some great pic's before midnight (of myself completely sober) and some even better ones afterwards (partially tipsy) But you'll probably never get to see those ones.

Once again - Happy New Year